Tag: Indian Technology

Google and Amazon rained on the parade of budget Android tablet manufacturers with the Nexus and Kindle Fire series respectively. However, both of those devices aren’t officially available in India, which has left the field open for Indian brands as well as Chinese manufacturers. Videocon is hoping to grab a slice of this market with its new VT10 tablet.

As you might have guessed from the naming scheme, the Videocon VT10 is a 10” tablet. It sports a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1280×800, which is pretty good for a budget tablet. It’s powered by a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor, which is again better than what is found in most budget tablets in India, but not as powerful as the Nvidia Tegra 3. The VT10 is equipped with 1 gigabyte of RAM, and 8 gigabytes of storage. You will almost certainly fill up the limited internal storage quickly. Thankfully, the VT10 includes support for external memory up to 32 GB. Both front and rear-cams are 2 megapixels, and the battery is rated at a hefty 6800mAh. The VT10 is Wi-Fi only, but supports 3G dongles. The default packaging includes an adapter, headset, battery, HDMI cable, OTG cable, and manual.

On paper, the VT10 appears to be a competitive tablet, which makes just the right compromises. However, its biggest draw isn’t really the hardware specifications. It’s the software and the price. The Videocon VT10 ships with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), and is available for purchase from Snapdeal and HomeShop18 for Rs. 11200 (about $204) with free shipping.

LG Electronics India launched its new 84-inch 3D TV in the country at the Stuff Gadget Show being held in Mumbai. The gigantic SmartTV flaunts a 4K resolution (3840 x 2160), and sports the same bunch of cutting edge features that has made LG a leader in the 3D space.

LG is not the first to release a 4K TV; however, it is the world’s first to offer an 84 inch 3D television with a 4K display resolution. The enhanced resolution means that pixels are barely discernable even when viewed from a close distance. LG’s latest offering sports all of the swanky new features we saw in the previously released 2012 range of LG 3D TVs. This includes dual-play, smartshare plus, 2D to 3D conversion, and magic remote. Check out our previous coverage for a more in-depth look at each of these features.

LG utilizes polarized passive glasses for its 3D technology. This has enabled it to overcome one of the biggest pain points of 3D – picture quality. Even with the glasses, color reproduction and contrast is excellent. During my brief hands-on time, I didn’t notice any significant display artifacts. Viewing angles were also pretty good. In brief, when it comes to picture quality, LG’s 3D TV offers very little room for complaint. However, 3D viewing on the larger screen did appear to be more stressful for the eyes.

The biggest problem with an 84-inch 4k display is not something that LG can control – the lack of source material. HD content is rare, but Ultra HD is almost impossible to get. As far as I know, DTH service providers in India only offer 720p or 1080p streams. Presumably, LG will leverage the dual-core processor powering its 84-inch monster to upscale the content. However, I couldn’t test how well this works, since LG was not demoing any live television streams. One also has to wonder how well a 720p or 1080p 3D content will look on a display this big. However, these are the prices one has to pay for staying on the cutting-edge, and this beast from LG is certainly cutting-edge.

LG 84LM9600 will be available in select stores in the metros, and is being released with a MRP of Rs. 17,00,000. However, I am told that you should be able to pick it up for something in the range of fourteen to fifteen lakhs.

Opera Mini usage in India has exploded over the past year, thanks to partnerships with major carriers like Airtel and Vodafone. In fact, India now has the highest number of monthly Opera Mini users worldwide. So, in this month’s State of the Mobile Web report, Opera Software decided to zero in on Indian users. State of the Mobile Web is a monthly report published by Opera Software, which utilizes data gathered from its Opera Mini servers to identify and analyze broad trends in mobile web usage.

While usual suspects like Facebook, Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Yahoo continued to be favorites among Indian users, Indian news and ecommerce websites experienced strong increase in popularity. The top five websites category in India were — News Portals, E-commerce, Social networking, Education, and Travel. In particular, the growth of e-commerce suggests that more and more Indians are getting used to the idea of buying stuff online. While e-commerce services took off in the western countries over the past decade, they struggled to break through in India, where users were often coy about buying stuff without seeing it. This seems to be finally changing, as e-commerce and classified websites made up 14% of total visits in India. Top five e-commerce related websites in India were — quikr.com, amazon.com /amazon.co.uk, flipkart.com, alibaba.com, and snapdeal.com.

Redington, one of the official distributors of Apple products in India, has revealed the prices for the next generation iPhones. As always, you will have to pay a premium if you wish to own Apple’s latest and greatest offering. The base model — iPhone 5 with 16 gigs of storage — will retail for Rs. 45500, which is a good ten thousand bucks more than what high end Android devices are selling for. However, Apple stuff in India has never been cheap, and the outrageous pricing has never been a major deterrent for true Apple fans.

Apple is expected to launch both white and black versions in India; however, stock will probably limited considering global demands. Higher end models with more storage will also be available in India, beginning next week. The 32 GB version will cost Rs. 52500, while the 64 GB version will cost Rs. 59500. I have always stayed away from the iPhone, as at these kind of price points I can very well get a high end gaming PC or two high-end Android smartphones. However, if you believe that there is no substitute for Apple’s exquisite sense of design or premium craftmanship, you can pre-order your device at several retailers including Infibeam.

With developed nations like the US and the UK in the bag, the social networking giant Facebook is turning its attention to developing nations like India, where millions of new internet users are being added every year. The social networking giant has announced a new promotion, which is going to give all new users signing up with their mobile phones a Rs. 50 talktime. The same amount of talktime can also be won by referring new users.

Facebook is already pretty big in India, where it overtook Orkut to become the most popular social network in 2010. Since then, its reach has increased steadily. However, India is a country with a population of more than one billion, and an internet penetration of only about 10%. As the country continues to develop, millions of people are being newly introduced to the internet. This represents a tremendous growth opportunity for Facebook, which has hit saturation in several developed nations. The promotion is extremely smart as it offers something that is both relatively easy to distribute and also useful. India has a remarkable mobile penetration, and as Opera’s State of the Mobile Web Report has highlighted time and again, a huge chunk of the population access the web solely through their mobile phones.

However, there is a major caveat with promotions like these. Most Indians have multiple SIMs and a promotion like this might lead to a sudden spurt of fake profiles. If this happens, Facebook might succeed in bolstering its user count, but in the long term it probably won’t gain much. Also, one has to keep in mind that if Facebook is struggling to monetize eyeballs from countries like the US, Canada, and the UK, it’s going to be significantly tougher to monetize eyeballs from countries like India.

In order to avail this promotion, go to m.facebook.com/tt and register with your mobile number.

Indian Railways is hardly the most sophisticated public railway service, but it is one of the largest in the world. Given how every government treats the railways as simply a means to please the junta and gain votes, it’s a wonder that the Indian railways is still functioning as well as it is doing. However, the state-owned enterprise is capable of throwing us the odd surprise.

Today, I discovered on Hacker News, a neat Google Maps mashup developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems or CRIS (an organization under the Ministry of Railways), called RailRadar. RailRadar is an interactive map that plots the position of trains running in India in realtime, and indicates whether they are on time or delayed. It uses the existing database of TrainEnquiry and presents it in a more visually interesting manner. Clicking on any train brings up more information including its next stop and route.

The conventional web and mobile interface of TrainEnquiry will still be more useful when you want to track a particular train. However, RailRadar deserves props as it’s not often that you see something as cool as this from Government of India owned entities. Now, if only CRIS would fix the nightmare that is IRCTC.

Microsoft’s Windows AppFest held at KTPO, Bangalore, has set the Guinness World Record for “Most Participants in a Software Development Marathon in One Location”. A little more than two and a half thousand (2567 to be precise) developers poured their heart and soul for eighteen hours to design, build, and test new Windows 8 apps.

Microsoft has been holding developer events across the world in an attempt to energize the developer ecosystem for Windows 8 ahead of its launch. Windows 8 features an entirely new class of touch-screen friendly apps that leverage web technologies. While Windows 8 makes developing Windows apps easier than ever before, it also eschews backward compatibility. Old apps will still run on desktops, but only in the classic mode, and in ARM tablets, they won’t run at all. Microsoft is making a bold move by redefining what we mean by Windows Apps, and its success hinges on developer participation.

AppFest is an initiative to get developers familiarized and involved with Windows 8, as well as to raise awareness about the opportunities offered by Windows 8. The Bangalore event was filled with activities throughout the day and night including performances from DJRink, rock band Swarathma and morning yoga sessions. Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, remarked “The spectacle of thousands of developers toiling through the night has demonstrated great commitment to their work.”

The Indian governments Department of Telecom (DOT) recently notified ISPs to block several torrent and video websites such as Pirate Bay, ExtraTorrent, KickAss Torrent, Vimeo, Pastebin and more to curb piracy. ISPs like Reliance and Airtel have already started blocking those websites.

In reply to those blocks, the famous group Anonymous has attacked several Indian government websites and taken them down. While the attacks continue, several users in India are still looking to access the websites but are seeing a message “This site has been blocked as per instructions from Department of Telecom (DOT)”.

Google’s legal woes just keep getting worse. After drawing the ire of American and European regulatory bodies, Google is now in hot water in India. According to WSJ, Competition Commission of India has initiated an antitrust probe into Google’s online advertising practices. Competition Commission is an Indian regulatory body responsible for enforcing The Competition Act (2002). It had earlier sued Apple for following a restrictive distribution model.

The initial target of the probe will be AdWords – Google’s automated service for selling ads that are served by its AdSense network. The instigating factor for the investigation is most probably a complaint by Consim Info Pvt. Ltd., which runs several matrimonial services including Bharatmatrimony, TamilMatrimony, and BengaliMatrimony. Consim believes that Google had engaged in discriminatory and retaliatory practices. It is currently suing Google in Chennai High Court. Earlier, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) had urged Competition Commission to investigate potential anticompetitive conduct of Google in the Indian internet, e-commerce market, online advertising and related markets.

Google is already in some trouble in India. It is currently facing criminal charges for failing to “adequately” censor itself. Back in February, Google also received a foreign exchange violation notice from the ED (Enforcement Directorate) for alleged irregularities in transfer of funds to its foreign entities. So far, Google has declined to officially respond, claiming that it is yet to be officially notified about the investigation.

Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart has formally unveiled its new digital music store Flyte, which was outed last week by a hawkeyed user. Music piracy is rampant in India with an overwhelming majority of downloaded music being illegal. However, much of the blame can also put on the unavailability of affordable and reliable digital music stores. Apple disrupted digital music and entertainment arena around the world with the iTunes store. Unfortunately, Apple’s disdain for the Indian market means that the world’s second most populous country is still an untapped demographic with plenty of raw potential.

Flipkart has already established itself as a clear leader in ecommerce. With the impending arrival of Amazon, it has been getting more and more aggressive. Recently it acquired one of its biggest competitors – LetsBuy. Even before that, it had acquired Mime360 and Chapak’s digital catalogue. Mime360 specialized in hosting streaming music, while Chapak had a catalogue with 40,000 filmographies, 10,000 movies and close to 50,000 ratings.

Digital music business is always a tough nut to crack. Flipkart is entering uncharted waters as most Indians simply aren’t habituated with purchasing music online, or purchasing music at all. The greediness of record labels often complicates things further. However, Flipkart’s dominance and reach offers it a killer advantage that might prove vital in this challenging segment.

To its credit, Flipkart is kicking things off on the right note. All the music in Flipkart’s catalogue is DRM-free (high quality MP3 files) and will work on any device and any operating system. Consumers can download each track a total of four times, and a download manager is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux to facilitate simultaneous downloads. Browsing through the music catalogue is simple and intuitive, and purchasing is easy as credit cards, debit cards, and internet banking is allowed. However, none of this would have mattered if Flipkart hadn’t gotten the pricing right. Thankfully, I think they have succeeded in making music affordable enough for the extremely price-sensitive Indian market. Like iTunes, Flipkart allows purchase of individual tracks, so you only pay for what you want to listen to. New and popular tracks are priced at Rs. 15, while Rs. 6 seems to be the baseline. Flipkart has managed to get a large chunk of Indian music publishers onboard, including biggies like T-Series, Saregama, Tips, Universal India and Sony Music. International record labels that have signed up include Universal, and Sony Music International. EMI is sadly missing. Currently Flipkart’s catalogue features music in English and Hindi, as well as regional languages like Tamil, Telegu, Punjabi, and Bengali.